Manika continues to sparkle for Bengaluru Smashers

PUNE: Star Indian paddler Manika Batra continued her scintillating form as she defeated T Reeth Rishya, who recently stunned World No. 28 Lily Zhang, in Ultimate Table Tennis Season 4 at the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Pune on Tuesday.

Manika thumped compatriot Reeth of Goa Challengers 3-0 to register her fourth women’s singles victory in season 4 for Bengaluru Smashers. India’s highest-ranked paddler went into attacking mode from the first serve and quickly took a big lead.

She then wrapped up the game by 11-4 with a precise backhand. Manika used her reach and attacking powers to win the second game 11-5 and carried forward her momentum to clinch 11-7 victory in the third game as well.

Earlier, Bengaluru Smashers’ Kirill Gerassimenko defeated the former World Championships silver medallist Alvaro Robles 2-1 in an exciting contest. Robles began the first game brilliantly and showed immaculate precision to win it by 11-3 before the Kazak paddler made a strong comeback and won the second game 11-8 to force the match into the decider.

Kirill was at his very best in the third game as he played ferocious forehands on both flanks to clinch the decider 11-5 and the match